Endoscopic Pilonidal Sinus Treatment: Rapid Recovery, Satisfactory Success, and High Quality of Life

In the treatment of pilonidal sinus disease (PD), endoscopic pilonidal sinus treatment (EPSIT), a skin-sparing minimally invasive technique, has attracted attention as an effective treatment. The aim of this study to evaluate the treatment success, cosmetic outcomes, and the quality of life in the patients who underwent an EPSIT for PD.

The prospectively maintained data of 86 patients who underwent EPSIT for PD were retrospectively analyzed. The primary end-point of this study was complete wound healing, while the secondary end-points were the quality of life and cosmetic outcomes.

Seventy-two (83.7%) patients were male, and the median age was 28 (16 to 52). The median operative time was 32 (24 to 44) minutes, the median time to return to daily activities was 1 (1 to 4) day, and the median time to return to work was 3 (1 to 11) days. Fifty-two patients (60.4%) required no analgesics. No wound complication was observed. The median follow-up period was 12 (3 to 23) months. The complete wound healing rate was 94.2%, incomplete wound healing rate was 4.6% and the recurrence rate was 1.2%. Treatment failure was observed in 5 of the 6 patients with >3 pits located in the midline. The first-year median Wound evaluation scale score was 0 (0 to 4). The quality of life [physical function, physical role difficulty, pain, general health perception, energy/vitality, social functioning, emotional role, and mental health (P<0.0001)] significantly increased from preoperative levels a month after the EPSIT procedure.

EPSIT, a minimally invasive treatment modality for the treatment of sacrococcygeal PD, is an effective treatment that does not hamper the daily life of the patients, presents high success rates, and has satisfactory cosmetic outcomes.